Arsenal vs Tottenham: Predicted Line-Ups For The North London Derby

Arsenal welcome fierce rivals Tottenham Hotspur to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon for the first north London derby of the new season.

The Gunners have recovered from a disastrous start that saw them lose 3-1 at home to Aston Villa with a hat-trick of victories over Fenerbache (twice) and Fulham. However, the fans are continuing to wait for the big name signings they’ve been promised this summer and the squad has been decimated by a spate of injuries to Mikel Arteta, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Thomas Vermaelen and Lukas Podolski.

French midfielder Mathieu Flamini re-joined the club on Thursday and is eligible to play, but the 29-year-old is only likely to make bench.

Tottenham on the other hand have invested heavily in their squad this summer with Vlad Chiriches and Erik Lamela joining Etienne Capoue, Roberto Soldado, Paulinho and Nacer Chadli in making the move to White Hart Lane today.

The latest additions aren’t expected to feature from the start on Sunday, but Soldado, Chadli, Paulinho and Capoue are all likely to make their derby debuts.

Here are my predicted line-ups for the game:

Arsenal’s starting eleven still looks extremely competitive but they will have very little firepower in reserve with only Yaya Sanogo and youngsters Serge Gnabry and Ryo Miyaichi offering Arsene Wenger attacking options from the bench.

Tottenham have a very powerful looking team but it remains to be seen how the new signings will cope in the heat of a north London derby. Andre Villas-Boas is going to have a lot more options to call upon if needed, with the likes of Gylfi Sigurdsson, Jermain Defoe, Emmanuel Adebayor and Aaron Lennon all providing viable options from the substitutes bench.

Do you agree with these line-ups? What would be your line-up? Share your views below.